The present invention relates generally to an improved agricultural round baler of the type employing a rotor for assisting the baling process, and particularly to such a baler with an adjustable rotor stripper mount.
For several years agricultural round balers have been used to consolidate and package crop material so as to facilitate the storage and handling of the crop material for later use. Usually, a mower-conditioner cuts and conditions the crop material for windrow drying in the sun. When the cut crop material is properly dried, a baler, most likely a round baler, is pulled along the windrows to pick up the crop material and form it into cylindrically-shaped round bales. More specifically, the pickup of the baler gathers the cut and windrowed crop material from the ground. The pickup assembly then conveys the cut crop material with a conveyor, such as a rotating conveying rotor, into a bale-forming chamber within the baler. The pickup assembly has a drive mechanism that operates to activate both the pickup and the conveying rotor, and the pickup drive mechanism is operably connected to and driven by the main drive mechanism of the baler. The baling chamber consists of a pair of opposing sidewalls with a series of belts that rotate and compress the crop material into a cylindrical shape. When the bale has achieved a desired size and density, the operator wraps the bale to ensure that the bale maintains its shape and density. The operator then raises the tailgate of the baler and ejects the bale onto the ground. The tailgate is then closed and the cycle repeated as necessary and desired to manage the field of cut crop material.
The rotor conveyor mechanism (“rotor” or “rotor mechanism”) between the pickup and the bale-forming chamber is, itself, known in the prior art, as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,595,055 and 6,644,006. The rotor mechanism usually takes one of two forms . . . a cutter or a feeder, both of which forms also convey crop material as described above. An elongate shaft or tube has a plurality of fingers pivotably affixed spirally along the length thereof that move into and out of the path between the pickup and bale-forming chamber as the shaft or tube is rotated. The fingers thus engage the crop material and convey the crop material within a transverse opening toward and into the bale-forming chamber. When the rotor floor has a series of elongated slots, a knife carriage fixed to the side sheets may be used. The knives, having a cutting and registration surface, are pushed up through the floor into the crop path between the rotor fingers. This mechanism is referred to as a “cutter”; however, without the cutting edge, it is called a “feeder”. The cutter is better in certain crop conditions, i.e., where the customer desires his crop to be more finely chopped in the bale.
Structurally, the rotor conveyor is rotatably mounted in its own frame, which is, in turn, mounted to the baler between the pickup and the bale-forming chamber. A plurality of stripper channels are affixed to a transverse stripper mount which is rigidly affixed at its ends to the rotor frame, as by welding, and spaced therealong between each of the openings between the fingers, forming a table-like arrangement such that as the fingers rotate to convey the crop material through the transverse opening, the crop material engages the stripper channels and the fingers are substantially wiped clean.
A troublesome problem presented with a fixed stripper mount, i.e., not adjustable, is that damage may occur to the stripper mount and or stripper channels due to poor clearance between or among the various components. It would be a great advantage to have an adjustable bolt-in stripper mount that can easily be replaced and/or adjusted relative to the rotor fingers.